layers cakes

November 2013: Rachel Brooks-Cardon!

Rachel is such a delight to work with and all of us at Ann Elizabeth couldn’t be happier to feature her wedding this month. She talk's about how much her mother really helped in the planning of details that made Rachel's wedding day truly timeless!

Bekka: Rachel so now that the wedding and honeymoon are over how is married life?Rachel: Well-married life so far has just been hanging with my best friend all the time. I mean we spent basically all our time together before the wedding, but now there are constant sleepovers and a heck of a lot less stress to worry about! We really couldn’t be happier. We share the same sense of humor and I never get tired of laughing with him. He’s my everything any problems that arise just seem so much more bearable having him with me. My family has been the greatest support to us and he’s the best addition we could have ever asked for! I found my other half and I’m shocked I can look at him and know he’s mine forever. If married life continues to get better from here, I would definitely say it’s my best decision yet! I highly recommend it!

Bekka: We loved your invitation; the lace overlay gave such a soft romantic feel. Did you know what you were looking for when dreaming up your invitation?Rachel: Well I didn’t have an exact image in my head walking in, but surely enough my mom did! She really helped me decide a timeless look that had a real “wow” factor to it. With the help we received at Ann Elizabeth I really got the invitation I always wanted. I loved the lace over our picture because it just seemed so elegant and unique. I had been receiving so many wedding invitations from friends and family prior to our wedding and I have to admit they all seemed so similar to one another. I felt our wedding invitation stood out and it’s something to really remember. I loved it and it turned out perfect.

Bekka: What is your favorite part of your invitation and was there any feature of your invitation that people complimented you on most?Rachel: Well the whole presentation of our invitation gave us compliment after compliment. People LOVED IT. I still get compliments on it from time to time. People also loved the single picture we put in with it. I couldn’t just pick one thing that I loved most. I really felt every decision and detail we put into it made it the perfect invitation for us.

Bekka: Some brides take inspiration from their invitation and use it in the decor of the venue. Did you incorporate anything from your invitation?Rachel: Oh for sure. Most of my wedding had this elegant Gatsby feel to it. I used the lace on my dress to help design my invitation and then the lace became a central theme. I used the exact same lace in my invitations as the background for all signs around the house. The table clothes we’re lacy and elegant and even my bridal book was lace. My wedding was spot on with the invitation. I really don’t think it could have been better.

Bekka: Do you feel that your invitations set the tone for your event?Rachel: The invitation set the perfect mood. Our wedding was a semi formal event and when people received our announcement they were calling me asking me if they needed to go and rent tuxes for the event! We had a good laugh about it, but some people really did show up dressed to the nines and it was a blast.

Bekka: What advice would you give to brides who are looking to gather inspiration for their wedding invitations?Rachel: I would tell them to find what they love and run with it. I only started out knowing that I wanted a lace dress that was unique and timeless. Once I found the dress I knew I wanted to plan a wedding that would match the feel of my dress. From there we planned the invitations and it all started to fall into place. The best advise I received from friends and family was- it is your wedding, well, and the grooms, but it’s really YOUR wedding! Make it your own, choose what you want, and love your choices!

Bekka: Is there a lesson you learned through your creative process in dreaming up your invitations you’d like to share?Rachel: Honestly, I really have to thank my mom for the invitation blueprint. She was the one that suggested it and I fell in love with it. We worked out the details together and made it perfect. I’m not sure if I would have thought it up all on my own. I’m so glad I had a mom that not only had great ideas, but also helped me create my perfect wedding. So the lesson learned is that having someone close to you helping plan isn’t a bad thing at all. If they want the best for you, I feel that two heads (or more) is better than one! And it makes it so much more fun.

Bekka: How would you describe your wedding day; anything unexpected (good or bad) or did everything go perfectly as planned.Rachel: We wished we would have had slightly better weather in the evening at the reception, but a little rain never hurt anybody! Everything went as planned as far as I know. I think the only thing I would have changed was the in-law drama! Oh a wedding wouldn't be a wedding without some drama, would it? All in good fun, the funniest joke I heard around the time of the wedding was “What’s the difference between In-laws and out-laws? -Out-laws are wanted!” I guess without the drama we wouldn’t have the funny stories to tell to our kids in the future! Nonetheless, it still ended up being our perfect day. It does go by fast though. It’s just such a crazy exciting day that I swear Shane and I didn’t even eat till we got to Park City that night! It might have gone by in a blur, but it sure was an unforgettable day. The friends and family that came made it such a special occasion for us and I got everything I ever wanted. I really appreciate all the help and support that we received and I loved every moment of it.

Bekka: Rachel thanks for taking the time to talk with me and share the details of your beautiful wedding!

See something above that you’ve absolutely got to have for your wedding? We’re making it easy for you. Below is a list of Rachel's vendors:

2013: Lea Simmons-Hedstrom!

We’re excited to have Lea Simmons-Hedstrom as our October Bride of the Month! Lea’s down to earth personality and love for nature’s beauty really showed throughout her invitations suite and into the décor and setting of her venue. Her simple, yet elegant, design for her invitations complemented the warm colors and soft texture of the paper pairing it perfectly with Log Haven's beautiful backdrops. Lea’s amazing team of vendors like Michelle Leo Events, Jacque Lynn Photography, Sax Romney, and Layers Cake made this wedding a favorite in our book!

Interviewer: How is married life and do you feel any different?Lea: Married life is amazing! I feel truly blessed to have found the perfect life partner and we couldn’t be happier. We had such an amazing relationship before the wedding and nothing really feels any different…other than getting used to saying a new last name.

Interviewer: Where did you get your inspiration from when designing your invitations and did you know exactly what you wanted or did you have a bunch of ideas?Lea: I searched many different websites including Pinterest and came across a photographers blog in California who had the most beautiful pictures of weddings in vineyards. I fell in love with one of the weddings and took a lot of ideas from that wedding. We wanted a "winery meets the mountains" style of wedding.

Interviewer: What is your favorite part of your invitations?Lea: The TWIG!! I had seen a twig when I was searching for ideas almost a year before our wedding and I had my heart set on having the perfect twig on the invitations. I wanted something simple and elegant to bring a little of Utah and the outdoors to our invitations and Ann found the absolute perfect twig for me. I was so excited when she sent it; I called my mom right away to tell her!

Interviewer: Was there any feature of your invitations that people complimented you on most?Lea: I had talked to a lot of my friends and family about them when they received them and they loved the colors and said the style seemed to fit my personality perfectly. I had a friend tell me the invitation looked exactly like me! I also had a lot of compliments on the pocket on the invitation. It seemed it was easy for everyone to keep everything together. I didn’t realize how handy that would turn out.

Interviewer: Some brides take the theme of their invitation and tie it into their wedding decor did you use anything from your invitation?Lea: We had Ann design the invitation as well as a thank you note to tie together with ribbon on the place settings that had the same twig as the invitations. Which again I LOVED! The color and style of paper was the same. We felt the style worked perfectly at Log Haven.

Interviewer: Do you feel that your invitations set the tone for your wedding?Lea: Yes, it was the perfect way to tie together elegance, simplicity and nature. Our wedding was at Log Haven which has such an elegant romantic log cabin feel.

Interviewer: What advice would you give to brides who are looking to gather inspiration for their wedding invitations?Lea: Don’t get overwhelmed by Pinterest!!! When I started looking at ideas I was so overwhelmed with all of the options. I would advise brides to maybe pick a single idea or theme and then start searching for ideas on Pinterest or in magazines that match the theme. It was also very helpful to have the initial invitation consultation with Ruth who was able to show me several examples. It’s a good place to start. Go with what fits your personality and have fun with it!

Interviewer: How would you describe your wedding day and was there anything that happened that you didn’t expect - good or bad?Lea: I don’t even know how to express how amazing our wedding day/weekend was. We had perfect weather and all of our close family and friends were able to come from out of state to support us. The scenery at Log Haven just made it so magical. We had a waterfall, mountains, trees and beautiful flowers everywhere, what could be more romantic?! I was so stressed out that week thinking that nothing would come together as I had planned and I remember seeing the bus arrive with our guests and it hit me that everything was falling into place perfectly. I’m usually in charge of everything so letting other people take the reigns was difficult for me. We had such an amazing team that literally gave 500% and had everything set up better than I could ever have imagined. Our photographer took us in to do a look at the dining room before all of our guests came in and I broke down in tears when I saw how beautiful it was. It was my fairytale wedding for sure.

Interviewer: How was your experience with Ann Elizabeth and our proofing system?Lea: It was such a pleasure to work with everyone at Ann Elizabeth. Ruth is an absolute doll! I don’t know what I would have done without out her. Every time I received a proof I was so excited because it just kept getting better and kept turning out exactly the way I had envisioned. I would hope that every bride could have the opportunity to find Ann Elizabeth.

Interviewer: Lea it was a pleasure working with you throughout the whole process and we are thrilled to have you as our October Bride of the Month!

See something above that you've absolutely got to have for your wedding? We're making it easy for you. Below is a list of Lea's vendors:

This week I’m excited to share some of the more elaborate invitations we've designed for kid's parties. We recently were challenged to create an interactive invitation in a Candyland Theme. The design got started with the idea of recreating the Candyland board as the invitation itself. When you open the invitation the first thing you see is CANDYLAND in big bold letters and a three dimensional pop out detail map of candy land full of all the amazing things to expect at this candy extravaganza party! We figured out a unique hand fold that allowed the board game to pop out when the card was opened and then fold back up into a neat square when closed.

Metallic pinks, blues, greens and candy hues graced this fun invitation. We searched high and low for a striped baker's twine in the right shade of blue and we were really glad when we found the perfect blue at the last minute.

Take a peek at the incredible cake that Julie at Layers Cake created to match our Candyland invitation. I’m always so excited to see what she will come up with and once again she has taken this theme and knocked it out of the park! If you are planning a party or celebration you should really consider using Layers Cake.

Next we have our Alice in Wonderland themed invitation. Alice in Wonderland is a really fun theme to work with because you can work mystery and intrigue into the design. We printed stacked tea cups right on the envelope so that guests were give a little hint of what was going to be inside the envelope. We thought "Open Me!" on the front of the invitation was a clever way of keeping the theme going and getting guests curious to see what is inside! When he three panel wrap is fully opened you can see how we made custom slits in the folds so that the diamond pattern bands could would be visible as part of the design of the inside of the invitation as well as the outside. The birthday party was a "tea party" and we referred to the birthday girl as the "Queen of Hearts" to keep everything in the Alice in Wonderland theme. The "Eat Me!" tags were used to give an extra touch to the favor bags of candy that were given to the party guests.

Last, but definitely not least, is our adorable Ladybug Paisley invitation. This invitation really has it all: a 3 panel wrap with a pocket, a details card, a belly band, envelope icing, and monogram card for this little girls party. The paisley band with it’s layered monogram card that says “Polka-dots and little black spots, that’s what ladybugs are made of” immediately conveys to guests that this is a sweet invitation for a young girl. When open the invite and details card give the guests all of the details of what's to come! The final touch of this invitation set is the matching thank you card. What a great way to follow up with guests with your appreciation for attending the party!

It's fun when we have the opportunity to change it up from wedding invitations and create fun, themed party invitation - especially when it’s making a little kids birthday that more exciting!

We are honored to be featured in the new Salt Lake/Park City Bride and Groom Summer/Fall 2013 magazine.

Our ad on page 12 features Tommi Ellingford-Wardle's letterpress invitation. Tommi was one of our favorite brides from 2012 and we love her invitation representing us for 2013. We we also thrilled to have Tommi's matching save the date card and envelope featured by Salt Lake/Park City Bride and Groom in their "Western Union" feature on page 28. There are some gorgeous invitations featured in this section that you should really check out.

Other big news from this issue is the reveal of Michelle Leo Events and her exquisite new look on page 41. She was also the wedding planner and designer for Devan Guilford and Rodrigo Vidal who are featured in real weddings on page 42. Her award-winning wedding design and event planning services have won her the prestigious Best of State award three years in a row. We had a hand in producing her new business cards so we're particularly excited about her glam new look. If you haven’t seen her new business cards you should definitely pick one up from her today.

As always, Culinary Crafts 2 page ad spread is a centerpiece of the magazine and if you're not already familiar with Culinary Crafts they are a centerpiece of the Wedding industry in Utah. Check out more of their amazing work in real weddings where they are featured for catering Tauri Stevens and Dylan Tucker page 38, Devan Guilford and Rodrigo Vidal page 42 and Candice Yee and Eric Bender page 46.

Another favorite vendor of ours is Julie Hill, owner of Layers Cakes. If you are looking for a beautiful cake that is handcrafted by a talented woman you've got to make a point of meeting with Julie. Julie is incredible to work with. On several occasions we have worked with a mutual client and Julie has an incredible skill of taking the look that Ann Elizabeth has developed for the client's party and translating it to the cake in a truly inspired way. For some of her gorgeous work check out the "Romancing the Stone" feature on page 79 where she made a three-tier fondant and rock candy cake. Layers Cake also did a fondant cake with bamboo accents for Candice Yee and Eric Bender who were also featured in real weddings on page 47.

I love Mayflowers Floral & Event Design. Their touch that brings a romantic yet refined look to any arrangement of flowers is work of art. Their flowers are featured in Devan Guilford and Rodrigo Vida real weddings on page 42. We are also proud to have featured Mayflowers this month in our Bride of the Month feature for Chandler Huntsman-Astin.

I also need to give a shout out to Rebekah Westover for her amazing photography and attention to detail that was featured in real weddings for Paige Stoner and Joshua Garcia page 50. You can see more of her work as she to was featured in our Bride of the Month for her photography for Chandler Huntsman-Astin.

And finally, can we talk about the cover of this issue please!? I love the stylistic choices made for this issue's cover photo. The soft, swept away from the face hair really accents the natural beauty of the model's face. I also love the very neutral makeup and basically bare lips and nails. This romantic styling of the bride's hair and makeup couldn't be a better fit with the sleeved dress and petite bouquet. Once again a huge kudo's to the talented people who brought the cover to life.

This week we’re excited to feature one of our favorite clients Hailey Kandell. Hailey is known for her excellence in hosting a great party for all occasions. She goes all out for her children's birthdays with lavish themes that will excite any child beyond their wildest dreams. Hailey's passion for entertaining started with her husband's love of cooking and out of a her desire to make special occasions personal and very reflective of her children’s personalities. For each child’s birthday they would chose the theme of their party and help in the details as well. Hailey says “Entertaining to me is a way to celebrate the people I love the most and to make life’s little milestones more grand.” Starting with the invitation she conveys the theme of the party to Ann Elizabeth. Ann then creates the uniquely designed invitations you see in the pictures below. Ann says "Hailey is great... She just gives me an idea and let's me run with it." Hailey’s choice of talented vendors like Culinary Crafts, Layers and Echo Photography help her to throw one fabulous party after another!

Her daughter Ady chose an artist theme for her birthday. The invitations had a fun crafty feel to them with different colored ribbons on the main piece and an icing wrap with paint streaks on the envelope giving it an artistic look. Layers clever way of making a cake look like chocolate crayons in a pail was just amazing along with the mini cakes for each child’s inner artist to decorate. Culinary Crafts catered and did a beautiful job with making all of the food arrangements look like art.

[one-half-first]Her son Max decided on a karate party because of his love for the karate classes he takes. The invitations were bold from the front monogram that said “HI-YAH!” to the details inside this invite that were sure to get Max’s friends excited to celebrate his birthday. Layers amazing talent took the images from the invitation and crafted it into a karate cake that match perfectly making this party complete.[/one-half-first][one-half][/one-half]

Her daughter Lucy picked a whimsical Wizard of Oz theme. This whole birthday party had every detail covered from the balloon rainbow entrance to the Wizard of Oz characters. The invitation was bright and colorful, two-sided with a pocket on the back and multiple layers. You knew you were going somewhere over the rainbow to a magical land when you received this invite. Layers again took the Wizard of Oz theme and made an amazing cake with rainbow colored layers on the inside. Culinary Crafts catering created an amazing spread of food that matched up with the theme too! Echo Photography by Kimberly Hadlock did the beautiful photography.

Hailey is such a fun client to work with and we love coming up with new ideas for all of her fabulous parties! Here at Ann Elizabeth we would like to say thank you to Hailey for sharing all the amazing pictures and letting us all have a sneak peek into her life and love of hosting parties!